Lesson Five: Is there banality of crime and violence, how can ordinary people commit atrocities? - Alex Dauncey-Elwood

Previous Part
What will strike you most in the excerpts from Nadire Mater is the banality of what she was describing (1997). Hannah Arendt’s concept of Banality of Evil is really impactful when trying to understand why people commit certain atrocities. Arendt received extensive backlash, in particular because she was Jewish, for seemingly not holding Adolf Eichmann solely responsible for the atrocities he committed. Although she did lay responsibility with Eichmann, she also put responsibility on the context and the repeated indoctrination of the political climate at the time. One of the striking contradictions that can be traced in Mater's work is the interlocking effect of contexts for the normalization of violence. The interviews Mater has with soldiers, provides insight into how they knew their actions were wrong but in this context they were normalized, further giving weight to the notion that war normalizes the violent actions of soldiers.

Hannah Arendt, The Banality of Evil

 The process of accepting violence as a legitimate form of conflict mediation is not inherent to humanity but is contextual. This can further be explained by women making decisions in times of war that would not have been made outside of the context of war. It changes individual agency. Individual decisions are altered when you are facing political, economic and social violence. Which is further exemplified when individuals are normalized into accepting a hierarchy in society that needs to be maintained through violent subordination.

This could also connect with Micheal Kimmel’s article on globalization being a factor to socialize men into feelings of resentment towards particular groups for the circumstances they are left in (2005). After World War One it was easier to mobilize a fascist movement because the economic situation left people in dire circumstances with limited agency and the need to blame someone. Kimmel discusses how men have organized world-wide due to downward mobility (2005). However, blame is thrust to specific groups of people, specifically minorities and women, when the real cause is the capitalist global economy which has led to significant developments in technological advances reducing the need for certain jobs. The hate and violence espoused by these groups, though not excused for the unacceptable rhetoric, can be understood in its context.

People need to be held responsible for their actions, however, political science will teach you that that is too simplistic blame for actions. Political science will afford you the tools to critically engage with the way the state and society are constructed to either indirectly or directly push people into committing terrible acts. The state could have either created the conditions that make people think the only way to achieve a goal is through violence or the state could have specifically pushed people to commit the atrocities such as in Nazi Germany.
Tomorrow - Lesson Six: Is it anyone’s right to say who or who cannot participate?